SEMI AUTOMATED SYSTEM OF RESERVATION

WHITNEY SYSTEM OF RESERVATION

Whitney system of reservation is developed by American Whitney Duplicating and Check Company in
1970. This system consist of racks mounted vertically on wall and standard size slips called whitney
slips or Shannon slips which is being filled in by the staff and put it into the slots of the whitney racks.
The slips are colour coded to identify the guest type like FIT, GIT etc.

A whitney system racks consists of a total of forty three racks out of which thirty one racks are kept
for the current month (one for each day), eleven racks for the next eleven months of the year, and
one rack for the for the next year. The thirty one racks are arranged as per the date of the month.

Sample colour coding followed in most of the hotels are white coloured slips for FIT guests, Yellow
coloured slips for GIT guests, pink colour for airlines crews and blue coloured slips for VIP guests.

DATE OF ARRIVAL NAME OF GUEST ROOM TYPE RATE DATE OF

DEPARTURE

MODE OF RESERVED BY DATE RECEIVED

RESERVATION

AGENCY (If any)

Billing Instruction Confirmation

Date

SAMPLE FORMAT OF WHITNEY SLIP

AUTOMATED & FULLY AUTOMATED SYSTEM OF RESERVATION

Though the information stored in the automatic system is same as in manual system, but it has already
changed the speed and accuracy in making reservations. The processing of reservation request does
not require manual study of density chart or advance letting chart. The reservation assistant can check
the availability of rooms by clicking on a link on the computer. In this system, the reservation
information is feed into the electronic format of the reservation form, and the information is
transferred to the central server where the room status is updated automatically. When a reservation
assistant receives a reservation request, he/she checks whether the room is available or not using this
system. If the request is accepted, the system automatically blocks the room for the desired duration
of time and removes the room from the availability records. The automated system saves the trouble
of manually updating the records. It also generates electronic confirmation letters that are sent to the
guest’s email addresses or postal addresses. The system is also equipped to automatically generate

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reports like occupancy records or forecasts. CRS (Centralised reservation system) and GDS (Global
Distribution System) are the examples of automated system.

An automated system itself is having different generations or units, in the beginning of automated
generation we were having computerised reservation system, the main reason of using this system
was that it was very efficient and time saving and at the same time it is very effective system. Hotels
which operate on computer usually are fully dependent on the system, as there is very little paper
work, very little filing work as well as the system is time saver. The main features that the computer
reservation system should cover are as follows:

• In receiving queries
• Displaying room status and maintaining guest history.
• Few computers are programmed in such a way that they do possess decision making
capability.
• It displays occupancy status and efficiently makes amendments or cancellations.
• It generates various reports and list and hence reducing extra paper work and workload.

The other example of fully automated system is CRS (Centralised reservation system) which is
generally used by the hotel chains. A chain of hotels which has a CRO system has reservation office in
different cities although they may have no unit operating in that city. All the units are connected with
this centralised reservation system. There are two basic types of central reservation system, they are
Affiliate network and Non affiliate network. An affiliate network is a hotel chains network where all
the individual units of chain are linked through the central network. A non affiliate reservation system
connects non chain properties and enables independent hotel operators to get the benefit of
reservation which the units of chain get and this system also take care of advertising of the properties.
Few CRS networks used in India are Amadeus- Hires, Abacus- Hotel net, Galileo- Room Master, Team
four hospitality- Resnet and Utell world reservations (GDS).

INSTANT RESERVATION AND SELF RESERVATION

It is basically a division or unit of a chain of hotels where the reservation for any of its properties are
taken instantly. Though this system is modernised by the development of computer and networking.
Now a guest can find self check in kiosk at the hotel lobby and can also do the booking of the other
units of the same hotel chain from that kiosk.

AMENDEMENT IN RESERVATION

In certain cases the guest may change the original booking program and inform the same to the hotel
with a request to make amendments in the records. The change usually is in dates of booking.
Sometimes it may be in number of pax, type and rates of rooms also. The reservation section will first
confirm from their record whatever the requests can be accepted or not. Incase the hotel decides to
accept the request of the guest, necessary amendments in the records shall be made and
communicated to all concerned department. The process of amendment includes two basic steps:
First the cancellation of previous booking and second is to create a new booking.

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CANCELLATIONS

It is for certain that some percentage of cancellation will be there in hotels having a large number of
reservations. Hotels must communicate the cancellation policy to the prospective guest, particularly
when the advance deposit has been received from the guest to avoid legal problem

Generally hotels located downtown do not charge any retention charges from guests who intimate
about their cancellation 24 hours in advance of their date of arrival directly the hotel or 48 hours in
advance if they intimate to central reservation officer.

In Resort hotels the request of cancellation should be made by the prospective guest 15 days to 3 days
before the date of arrival during high and low season respectively. So that retention charges should
not be charged.

Once the cancellation request of the guest is accepted it is important that hotel communicate back to
the guest and inform him of the cancellation. The guest may be refunded any deposit as per the policy
of the hotel. Further the hotel will update the record as follows:

DIARY SYSTEM: The reservation form along with other set of documents concerning the booking will
be filed and marked cancelled and also the room which is blocked in charts will be released.

WHITNEY SYSTEM: The concerned rack is approached and the whitney carrier or slip is being removed
and filed with other relevant documents and marked cancelled.

COMPUTER SYSTEM: In this case the reservation module which includes the types of room etc which
have been booked are updated. It is important to note that once the cancellation record is updated
the room is now available for future booking.

RETENTION CHARGES:

These are the charges which may be collected from a guest having guaranteed reservation and does
not come on the scheduled date due to the reasons best known to him. The guest/agency has made
any advance payment, the same may be forfeited as retention charge, if the guest does not inform
about his cancellation within the prescribed time mentioned by hotel.

Cancellations effected beyond the time limits may entitle hotel to levy retention charges on room
rates as under:

For hotels located in towns other than Resort places- One day Charge

For Resort hotels:

During high season-

Cancellation made under 10 days but more than 7 days notice – 1 day charge as retention charges

Between 7 days and 48 hours- 2 days charge as retention charge

Less than 48 hours- 3 days charge as retention charge

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During low season-

1 day charge provided that where a hotel has covered itself by demanding to deposit in advance from
the guest against confirmed reservation, the retention charges shall be restricted to the charges
mentioned above. Excess deposit is refunded back.

AMENDMENT/CANCELLATION FORM

Original booking Amended booking

Surname Surname

Co/Address Co/Address

Title: Title:

Arrival: Flt: Time: Arrival: Flt: Time:

Departure: Flt: Time: Departure: Flt: Time:

1 2 3 4 Rates 1 2 3 4 Rates
Single Single
Twin Twin
Triple Triple
Suites Suites
Form of Payment

Contact

Remarks

Account No. Date: Taken By:

OVERBOOKING

When a guest does not turn up on the day of arrival after having a confirmed reservation without any
prior information, the situation is called NO-SHOW. In this case of no show a retention charge is
charged to the guest where the guest normally pays one day room tariff. A retention bill is raised for
the retention charges, this practice is not very common in case of individual traveller (FIT) but is
practiced if the reservation is done by travel agency and also charged to the bill to company. A lot of
revenue is lost because of No show. To compensate for the revenue loss, hotel overbooks.
Overbooking is reserving more number of rooms than the total number of rooms available.
Overbooking is a confirmed reservation. It is a calculated risk that is taken by the hotels to make up
for the financial loss due to no show. The number of overbooking that can be taken for a particular
day is calculated on the basis of past records of no show. To keep a track of the overbooking done,

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there is space provided in the ALC and DCC at the bottom. These portions of ALC or DCC are filled up
and reservations are updated in the overbooking zone.

The status of Reservation Status Board (RSB) is changed from free sale open to all, only after the
booking is completed. Factors to be considered to decide overbooking percentage:-

• Past statistics of No Show.

• Time gap between date of booking and date of arrival.
• Special events in the city.
• Season of the year.
• Profession of the guest.
• Source of booking.
• Business segments(type of clientele)
• Purpose of visit.
• Political situation.
• Experience of front office manager.
• Period of business.

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